Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheNo matter which dharma practice you engage in, from ngöndro to offering a single candle, always do it with the intention that your practice will benefit all sentient beings. In this context, benefit does not only mean giving practical help, such as offering food or medicine, or feeding people’s emotions, egos and delusions. Here, benefit includes aspiring to be instrumental in the enlightenment of all sentient beings; without such an aspiration, it is easy for dharma practice to become self-serving.
A Song of No Attachment to This and That ~ Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche
Khenpo Tsultrim RinpocheThough shifting appearances ceaselessly rise
Just be unattached as a child at playThough seeming joys, troubles, friends, enemies rise
All thoughts free themselves like the waves of the seaWhat a wealth of thoughts – passion, aggression, praise, blame
Just look at their essence, the naked clear voidTo walk, sit, eat, lie down and all you can do
Just empty forms shining in clear light’s expanse
Emptiness ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheAlthough Siddhartha realized emptiness, emptiness was not manufactured by Siddhartha or anyone else. Emptiness is not the result of his revelation, nor was it developed as a theory to help people be happy.
Whether or not Siddhartha taught it, emptiness has always been emptiness, although paradoxically we can’t even really say that emptiness has always been, because it is beyond time and has no form. Nor should emptiness be interpreted as negation of existence — that is, we can’t say that this relative world doesn’t exist either — because in order to negate something, you have to acknowledge that there is something to negate in the first place.
Emptiness doesn’t cancel out our daily experience. Siddhartha never said that something spectacular, better, purer, or more divine exists in place of what we perceive. He wasn’t an anarchist refuting the appearance or function of worldly existence, either. He didn’t say that there is no appearance of a rainbow or that there is no cup of tea.
We can enjoy our experience, but just because we can experience something doesn’t mean that it truly exists. Siddhartha simply suggested that we examine our experience and consider that it could be just a temporary illusion, like a daydream.
Interdependence at work ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaYou can see interdependence at work by looking at how your own life is sustained. Is it only through your own exertions? Do you manufacture all your own resources? Or do they come from others? When you contemplate these questions, you will see very quickly that you are able to exist only because of others. The clothes you wear and the food you eat all come from somewhere else. Consider the books you read, the cars you ride in, the movies you watch, and the tools you use. Not one of us single-handedly makes any of these things for ourselves. We all rely on outside conditions, including the air we breathe. Our continued presence here in the world is an opportunity made possible entirely by others.
The ability to adapt to changes ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheConditions are always changing, and real peace lies in the ability to adapt to this changes.
Great Compassion is the Source of Great Genuineness ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaGreat compassion is the source of great genuineness in the practitioner. Usually we want to cheat, to deceive, and twist things for our own sake. We distrust something or other, and feel that the situation is not quite right, so we begin to cheat or become evasive. We are trying to avoid something. But in the case of great compassion, there is no attempt to avoid anything because everything is clear. Everything is completely seen through.
Playing ~ Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
Thinley Norbu RinpocheFish play in the water.
Birds play in the sky.
Ordinary beings play on the earth.
Sublime beings play in display.
Cause of a peaceful world ~ Maha Ghosananda
Maha GhosanandaGreat compassion makes a peaceful heart.
A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person.
A peaceful person makes a peaceful family.
A peaceful family makes a peaceful community.
A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation.
A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world.
Cutting through subtler misconceptions ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheStudy and reflection will cut through your more gross misconceptions. But the subtler ones can only be dispelled by meditation, and by integration of the absolute wisdom that arises from it into your very being. To engender it, go to a secluded place and stay as much as possible in meditation, practicing shamatha and vipashyana — sustained calm and profound insight — to realize emptiness, the ultimate nature of all phenomena.
Finding time to meditate ~ Ajahn Chah
Ajahn ChahIf you have time to be mindful, you have time to meditate.
Do your best in every moment ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche
Tai Situ RinpocheUnless you are a yogi like Milarepa you should definitely plan and prepare as if you are going to live another 50 or 70 years or whatever; you should plan that way. But in you, you really should know that that might not be the case. And not only that, we should not only think of our impermanence, but also everything else. Any kind of situation, you name it, everything is impermanent. That way it is about everything.
So how do we handle this? I say take a deep breath and take it easy. The most important thing is to do your best with every moment of your life. Be good, sincere, kind, honest and hard working. If you are meditating, meditate well, if you are doing something, do it well. Do your best in every moment. That is how to take care of the understanding of impermanence. If you just sit there and worry that you might die in the next hour, that’s not the best use of the understanding of impermanence. Make the best out of your lives, even if you are going to die in the next hour you will not have any regret if you have done your best. That is how to handle it.
With compassion ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa RinpocheLive with compassion
Work with compassion
Die with compassion
Meditate with compassion
Enjoy with compassion
When problems come,
Experience them with compassion.
Until the dualistic identity mind melts ~ Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe TsogyalNow until the dualistic identity mind melts and dissolves, it may seem that we are parting.
Please be happy.
When you understand the dualistic mind, there will be no separation from me.
May my good wishes fill the sky.
A format on the spiritual path ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheThe vast majority of us perform two activities almost instinctively; we like to throw out rubbish and love collecting goodies. This universal habitual pattern can be usefully employed as a format on the spiritual path.
Strenuous impulsion toward equanimity ~ Mipham Rinpoche
Mipham RinpocheIn those who have realized emptiness, strenuous impulsion toward equanimity in the face of the eight worldly obsessions and effortless compassion for others arise simultaneously in the mindstream.
Expanding our sense of ourselves ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaRecalling the principle of interdependence, we can expand our sense of ourselves beyond the narrow limits of our own body and experiences, to encompass everything our life connects to. Then we can look beyond our own aims, and embrace others’ goals as our own.
Nurturing ourselves ~ Pema Chödron
Pema ChödronAs adults, we begin to cultivate a sense of loving-kindness for ourselves — by ourselves, for ourselves. The whole process of meditation is one of creating that good ground, that cradle of loving-kindness where we actually are nurtured. What’s being nurtured is our confidence in our own wisdom, our own health, and our own courage, our own goodheartedness. We develop some sense that the way we are — the kind of personality that we have and the way we express life — is good, and that by being who we are completely and by totally accepting that and having respect for ourselves, we are standing on the ground of warriorship.
The goal exists in every moment ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaDeveloping basic sanity is a process of working on ourselves in which the path itself rather than the attainment of a goal becomes the working basis. The path itself is what constantly inspires us, rather than, in the style of the carrot and the donkey, promises about certain achievements that lie ahead of us… The difference between spiritual materialism and transcending spiritual materialism is that, in spiritual materialism, promises are used like a carrot held in front of a donkey, luring him into all kinds of journeys. In transcending spiritual materialism, there is no goal. The goal exists in every moment of our life situation, in every moment of our spiritual journey. In this way, the spiritual journey becomes as exciting and as beautiful as if we were buddha already. There are constant new discoveries, constant messages, and constant warnings. There is also constant cutting down, constant painful lessons — as well as pleasurable ones. The spiritual journey of transcending spiritual materialism is a complete journey rather than one that is dependent on an external goal.
Removing the obstructions to omniscience ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaA consciousness that conceives of inherent existence does not have a valid foundation. A wise consciousness, grounded in reality, understands that living beings and other phenomena—minds, bodies, buildings, and so forth—do not inherently exist. This is the wisdom of emptiness. Understanding reality exactly opposite to the misconception of inherent existence, wisdom gradually overcomes ignorance.
Remove the ignorance that misconceives phenomena to inherently exist and you prevent the generation of afflictive emotions like lust and hatred. Thus, in turn, suffering can also be removed. In addition, the wisdom of emptiness must be accompanied by a motivation of deep concern for others (and by the compassionate deeds it inspires) before it can remove the obstructions to omniscience, which are the predispositions for the false appearance of phenomena — even to sense consciousness — as if they inherently exist.
Therefore, full spiritual practice calls for cultivating wisdom in conjunction with great compassion and the intention to become enlightened in which others are valued more than yourself. Only then may your consciousness be transformed into the omniscience of a Buddha.
The essence of meditation practice ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur RinpocheThe essence of meditation practice is to let go of all your expectations about meditation.